Prohibited language relating to teacher placement evaluations and seniority-based layoff recall decisions is contained within a 23-page appendix, added to the collective bargaining agreement between the Bay City Education Association and Bay City Public Schools.[65] At the beginning of the appendix is the following language:

As a result of Public Act 103 of 2011, the following provisions of the parties’ collective bargaining agreement were removed to this appendix as being not enforceable, “prohibited” subjects of bargaining as applicable to Teachers within the bargaining unit. If a court or agency of competent jurisdiction concludes by January 31, 2017 that PA 103, in whole or in part, is unlawful, then the lawful provisions revert back to the Master Agreement and are enforceable to Teachers. These provisions, however, remain in full force and affect [sic] for those bargaining unit members not subject the [sic] Teachers’ Tenure Act unless otherwise indicated.[66]

A case could be made that the Bay City school district is in fact bargaining over these prohibited subjects, since the district and the union agreed to make these provisions enforceable if Public Act 103 becomes unlawful by Jan. 31, 2017. By specifying the date, the district and union are, at least indirectly, bargaining over when these policies may go into effect.

A brief summary of Bay City’s prohibited items shows just how much the district’s previous contract limited school administrators from making staffing decisions. According to the district’s prohibited language appendix:

Though the district states that prohibited subjects of bargaining have been relegated to this appendix, it appears as if some prohibited subjects remained in the main contract. The contract lists the various factors that will be used to determine how vacancies will be filled and includes the “length of satisfactory service to the District,” i.e., seniority.[72]